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Chrisjen Avasarala (TV)
Alive |age = ~ 70 |gender = Female |home = New York City, Earth, |family = † Unnamed daughter Unnamed grandson |occupation = Secretary-General of the United Nations Deputy Undersecretary of the United Nations ( |affiliation = United Nations Government |portrayed by = Shohreh Aghdashloo |seasons = 1-4 |first appearance = |last appearance = |alias = Your/Her Excellency Madam Secretary Bubbles Archangel Chrissy |imdb = ch0526404 }} Her Excellency, Chrisjen Avasarala is the current Secretary-General of the United Nations. She previously served as Deputy Undersecretary under , but ascended to the position of Secretary-General after the resignation of Sorrento-Gillis and the imprisonment of his second in command, Undersecretary , following a scandal involving the Protomolecule and sent Earth to an unfounded war with the Martian Congressional Republic. As Secretary-General she serves as both the head of state and government of Earth, and is the executive leader of the United Nations Security Council. Biography Background A master politician and maneuverer, she achieved one of the highest ranks in UN government without ever standing for election. She manipulates those in the highest seats of power through careful cultivation of relationships with the spouses, friends, and staff nearest to them. Chrisjen belongs to a longstanding political dynasty on Earth, dating back to the early days of planetary exploration and colonization. Martian separatists assassinated her father during a period of social unrest. Her son, a Marine, died in the line of duty while defending Earth from Belter revolutionaries. Throughout the series |-|Season One = In , Chrisjen is seen torturing a suspected Outer Planets Alliance operative, Heikki Sabong, for intelligence on the OPA’s smuggling of revolutionary stealth technology, as a result of political unrest growing in the Belt, and thus a threat to the UN’s holdings there. In , after interrogating (torturing) the Belter smuggler, Avasarala comes to the conclusion that the Mars is feeding the OPA stealth technology. This would indicate that the MCR is trying to arm the OPA to fight for Belter independence, thus destabilizing the region and compromising Earth’s control of the Asteroid Belt and the resources from it, which Earth depends on. In , in order to find out if Mars’ stealth ships were used to destroy the , Avasarala lies to her friend Franklin DeGraaf, the UN's ambassador to Mars, that Earth has proof Mars is guilty. By monitoring her friend to see if the ships are missing, it indicates to her that Mars is innocent. She realizes whoever blew up the Canterbury intends on starting an interplanetary war by making everyone think the Martian government is responsible of the attack. In , Avasarala starts to suspect that traitor, , may be the person that blew up the Canterbury as a power play by the Outer Planets Alliance. She blackmails a colleague into identifying an operative to spy on Fred Johnson on Tycho Station. It is then revealed that the OPA is responsible for her son's premature death. In , with the knowledge from her spy that and crew have left Tycho on a fighter ship, Avasarala goes to Holden’s mother, Elise, to learn what she can about him. She surmises that Holden is a kindhearted child caught up in a bad situation, and not allied with whomever is trying to start a war. Her boss, Undersecretary , reveals he had sent a Black Ops team to kill Holden. In , Avasarala warns Errinwright that the Black Ops team he had sent to retrieve Holden must leave Holden alive, or he will be a martyr that will give fuel to an Outer Planets Alliance uprising, but Errinwright has plans of his own. Avasarala receives bad news: her friend DeGraaf, whom she betrayed in order to test Mars’ involvement with stealth ships, has reportedly committed suicide. In , Avasarala visits the home of her recently deceased friend, DeGraaf, the Martian ambassador she tricked in . She surreptitiously searches his files and discovers that he was researching the whereabouts of missing stealth gunships, built on Earth, with drives like those that destroyed the and the Donnager. Soon thereafter, Fred Johnson publicly broadcasts his evidence that the Donnager was destroyed by stealth ships built on Earth. DeGraaf’s death may not have been a suicide, and his blood may not be on her hands, after all. Undersecretary Errinwright tells Avasarala that said ships were privately commissioned on Earth, and smuggled to Fred. Chrisjen realizes Errinwright is lying and is somehow involved in the Canterbury’s destruction and the attempts to start a war. |-|Season Two = In , with the knowledge that undersecretary Errinwright and industrialist are somehow involved with the efforts to start a system-wide war, Chrisjen Avasarala plays the role of the dutiful Earth politician to gather intelligence on the matter. When a dilapidated science center on the Saturnian moon Phoebe goes dark, Mars and Earth blame each other and prepare for war. In , after the UN destroys the Martian moon of Deimos as retaliation against Mars’ perceived role in the destruction of Phoebe station, Avasarala fears war is imminent, and sends a secret message to Fred Johnson, believing he could help uncover the conspiracy behind the acts of aggression. In , Avasarala receives a message back from Fred Johnson with coordinates to a stealth ship with casualties on board. The ship can can be traced back to a company owned by Jules-Pierre Mao, whom Avasarala knows to be involved in the larger conspiracy to cause a Earth/Mars war. It can also link Mao to the stealth ships used to start the conflict between Earth and Mars. She leaks the information, but Mao plays dumb when confronted. In , the news that Eros is traveling for a collision course with Earth ignites a frenzy of panic among the populace. Projections for loss of life range from disastrous to catastrophic. With no way to track the massive asteroid hurtling towards Earth, Avasarala urges the UN Security Council to hand off control of a horde of nuclear missiles to Fred Johnson who, through the crew of the , has eyes on the asteroid. In , Avasarala consults with an old friend and scientist, Dr. Iturbi. He is convinced that the was the result of extraterrestrial phenomena. Iturbi convinces Avasarala to grant him assignment to Arboghast and access to Venus, where Eros crashed. In return, he will be her unfiltered eyes and ears on site. Avasarala confronts Errinwright about his involvement with Jules-Pierre Mao. Having pieced together that Mao is connected to the incident on Eros, Avasarala gives Errinwright a message to deliver to Jules: Give her all the information he has on Eros, or she will destroy his family and empire. In , as the on Ganymede resulted in over 3,000 dead with more injured and while the UN is taking the news as a war cry from Mars, Avasarala sees this as an opportunity to call a ceasefire and she petitions the Prime Minister to call a peace summit on Earth. Not only will this deescalate the growing conflict, but it will give Mars an easy out to a war they know they cannot win. In , Avasarala and Errinwright discuss the Arboghast’s mission on Venus. Afterwards, Avasarala enters into the peace summit with Mars. The talks get off to a rocky start but settle quickly when gives her testimony about what happened on Ganymede. The Martian marine's team plays the scapegoat and, thus, avoids war but, Avasarala senses that something else is going on so she requests more time with Bobbie. Bobbie lets it slip that a “something” with no vacuum suit attacked them, but quickly gets back on script. In , Avasarala's suspicions about Errinwright's role in the larger protomolecule conspiracy are confirmed. She finally confronts him about the staged suicide of her old friend Franklin DeGraaf. Hopeful that Errinwright can yet redeem himself, she decides not to go public with his role in the conspiracy just yet. Avasarala is still not convinced of Bobbie’s testimony and her claim that her unit was responsible for the incident on Ganymede. The MCR appears to be using the peace talks as a smokescreen for some ulterior purposes. Avasarala knows she needs to get more information from Bobbie. She finds Bobbie getting her first look at the ocean, and tries to derive the truth from her but Bobbie is still reeling from her experience at the UN. In , Avasarala warns Errinwright that when the Eros post mortem begins, the UN government will use him as their scapegoat because of his collusion with Jules-Pierre Mao. Avasarala suggests it would be the prefect moment for him to atone for his sins. Soon after, she receives a message from Jules-Pierre Mao requesting her attendance aboard one of his ships to negotiate. Her associate believes it to be a trap, but Avasarala accepts the invitation regardless. After Bobbie has a falling out with her superiors, she requests asylum on Earth and tells Avasarala everything she knows: the MCR was using her crew and Ganymede as a testing ground for a new weapon involving the protomolecule. In , Avasarala departs Earth for Jules-Pierre Mao’s ship, the Guanshiyin, with Bobbie and Cotyar serving as her muscle. Aboard Jules’ luxurious ship, Avasarala and the business magnate discuss the terms: in exchange for access to the protomolecule technology, Jules wants his family assets freed from UN control. While Mao is still laying out his terms, Errinwright sends a message to Jules-Pierre and Avasarala that the Martian Defense Minister Korshunov has passed away. With Korshunov dead, Errinwright holds all the power to bankroll the protomolecule project. Avasarala is the only one alive that could expose his role, thus Errinwright orders her shuttle to leave her, Bobbie, and Cotyar stranded on Mao's ship. There, Mao's men prepare to silence Avasarala and her aids forever. In , trapped on the Guanshiyin, Avasarala, along Bobbie and Cotyar, tries to stay alive. Cotyar is bleeding out quickly from the earlier gunfight, but he manages to create a diversion for Bobbie to escape the room and retrieve her Martian armor. Bobbie returns wearing her bulletproof armor and rescues Avasarala and Cotyar. |-|Season Three = In , Chrisjen utilizes portable auto-doc to save . She convinces Theo to recover Errinwright message from Guanshiyin's buffers. She is able to successfully escape Mao's yacht with Draper on the Razorback, racing skiff. In , she must leave their escape in Draper's hands. Impatient as UN ship tracks the Razorback, she prompts Bobbie to use the emergency beacon in Bobbie's Marine Recon Power armor undersuit liner. She strokes out before they dock with the Rocinante. In , Avasarala recovers in the Rocinante med bay. She tries to convince Holden to end Errinwright's war but he doesn't want to get involved. She and Bobbie later disclose Jules-Pierre Mao's involvement with the protomolecule hybrids and in turn the crew reveal their previous encounter with a hybrid. After learning that Naomi Nagata gave a sample of the protomolecule to Fred Johnson, Avasarala strongly disapproves. However, upon hearing of the crew's mission to rescue Prax's daughterfrom Io, she agrees to support their mission. She later privately speaks with Naomi in the galley, insisting they didn't have to be enemies if not friends. A hostile Naomi voiced her suspicions that Avasarala wanted to obtain a sample of the protomolecule to help Earth stay in the game; Avasarala responds they are indeed not going to be friends. In , Avasarala watches Sorrento-Gillis addressing the General Assembly. She subsequently shows Holden and Nagata Errinwright's admission of treason and insists they send it out to Admiral Souther. When Nagata refuses, Avasarala explains that Errinwright is manipulating Sorrento-Gillis and the recording would expose him and put an end to the war. She identified from the broadcast, a close associate of Sorrento-Gillis, who would be able to deliver the evidence covertly. Holden relented and told Nagata to discreet transmit the message to Anna. Subsequently, she speaks to Martian Ensign Sinopoli, asking him to show the recording to his commanding officer to pass along to . In , ... In , with and help, Chrisjen finds the infected. She tells them the hybrid pods would be headed to Mars. They take the Razorback to try and recall the pods. Tries to have Naomi patch her through when Cotyar broadcasts but must only watch his final words. In the aftermath, Holden hands over Mao to Avasarala, who thanks him with a nod. In , after the arrest and imprisonment of Errinwright and the resignation of Esteban Sorrento-Gillis, Avasarala is shown to have become the new Secretary-General of the United Nations. In a speech delivered from her offices in New York, she pleads that Earth, Mars and the Belt should move past their former conflicts and unite as one species in order to investigate the Ring that has been recently formed by the Protomolecule. In , Chrisjen appears in an announcement directing non-military passengers to make arrangements to depart from the fleet for Titan. In , in her office at the UN building, Chrisjen observes a hologram of the Ring network leading to 1300 different solar systems, which was reactivated as a result of the . |-|Season Four= She is in political race against new opponent for her post, Nancy Gao. Personality Chrisjen belongs to a longstanding political dynasty on Earth, dating back to the early days of planetary exploration and colonization, and takes her role seriously. As a consequence, her family has often been at the forefront of great turmoil throughout the Solar System. Martian separatists assassinated her father during a period of social unrest, while her son, a Marine, died defending Earth from Belter revolutionaries. Despite these personal losses, Avasarala herself remains unfazed in the face of impending peril and will do whatever it takes to defend Earth, which she sees as the cradle of humanity. Unlike her coworker Sadavir Errinwright, Avasarala is openly distrustful of big corporations and their owners, namely Jules-Pierre Mao, and has no qualms with harming his family and business if it means the survival of Earth. This fear proves accurate when Errinwright and Mao both betray her and try to kill her for planning to expose their conspiracy. Memorable Quotes }} }} , referring to }} Media |-|Images= File:TheExpanse-Avasarala.jpg File:209.jpeg File:TheExpanse-Avasarala-small-profile-pic.jpg S02E06-ShohrehAghdashloo as ChrisjenAvasarala 00c.jpg| S02E09-ShohrehAghdashloo as ChrisjenAvasarala 05c.jpg|link=Armistice between the United Nations and the Martian Congressional Republic S03E04-18.png Avasarala_S4.jpg Chrisjen Avasarala - Expanse season 4 promotional 1.png Chrisjen Avasarala - Expanse season 4 promotional 2.png Avasarala S04E03-1.jpg Avasarala S04E03-2.jpg Avasarala S04E08-1.jpg Avasarala S04E08-2.jpg |-|Videos= File:Avasarala delivers a vicious calculated threat for Jules-Pierre Mao through Errinwright Appearances =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =credit | =appears | =appears | =appears | =credit | =appears }} =appears | =credit | =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =credit | =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears }} =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =credit | =appears | =credit | =credit | =credit | =appears }} =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears | =appears }} Trivia * Avasarala doesn't appear in the books until , but was brought into the first season to add the Earth's political counterpoint earlier in the story. To accomplish this task, plot events were constructed which didn't occur in the timeline. * Avasarala has been repeatedly established by the fans as the best character of the whole series, winning both SEAFAV2 and NOVFAV1-6 with scores greatly exceeding 9 (9.21 and 9.50, respectively). External links *''OLD'' ;News * * }} Category:Female Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Characters (TV) Category:Female Characters (TV) Category:Earthers Category:United Nations